University Describes Docking Women’s Grades As ‘A Necessary Evil’

A Japanese university has allegedly lowered female applicants’ test scores since 2011 to keep its proportion of women below 30 percent.

Tokyo Medical University began deducting points from the exam scores of female candidates to its program after 40 percent of the class entering the school in 2010 was female, reported BuzzFeed News.

An unidentified university official said female doctors were “more unwanted” when speaking with Japanese outlet Yomiuri Shimbun. The official cited a doctor shortage in Tokyo Medical University’s hospital and believed that female doctors could not fill this void because they quit work after getting married and having children.

“Many female students who graduate end up leaving the actual medical practice to give birth and raise children,” the administrator said, reported The Asahi Shimbun. “There was a silent understanding (to accept more male students) as one way to resolve the doctor shortage.”

While women comprised over 30 percent of applicants who passed the initial stage of Tokyo Medical University’s application process, they made up less than 18 percent of the final admitted group.

Japanese universities can maintain a gender quota, as long as they publicly advertise it. Tokyo Medical University did not stipulate a gender ratio while recruiting students.

A university spokesman told BuzzFeed Japan that the school is investigating the admission process and will address the alleged discrimination in an August press conference.

Tokyo Medical University’s president, Mamoru Suzuki, and board of regents chairman, Masahiko Usui, resigned in July after allegedly bribing Japanese education ministry official Futoshi Sano by offering to admit his son in exchange for a ministry grant, reported The Japan Times.

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